The Slow Path?
by RavennaBlake
Summary: Set after Journey's End and following The Doctor (10.5) and Rose in Pete's World. What will they get up to? Will they manage to grow a TARDIS? Will Torchwood leave a half-alien Doctor roaming around Earth? And will Jackie get her own private zeppelin? Tune in to find out.
1. Chapter 1

"Well just set us up in a hotel then!" Jackie yelled into the phone, at her wits end trying to organise transportation back to London for herself and her family. She had been on the phone with Rose's new assistant for the past hour, a woman who knew absolutely nothing about how Torchwood worked and seemed to have never worked in an office a day in her life. If it weren't for some sort of emergency or other, she would be talking to her husband, but Pete being Pete had been called into one of several meetings and would be unreachable for at least another three hours. It was one of the only things about her new life that she genuinely didn't like. The money and parties and mansion were amazing, and a far cry from the tiny flat she had spent most of her life in, but sometimes she wished she could trade it all in just to be sure her family could be safe and secure and _reachable_.

Then again… She looked over to where her daughter was sitting in the damp sand, head resting on the shoulder of the Doctor. Even from so far away Jackie could see the difference in her. There was a weight that had been lifted off her shoulders, a brightness to her that she hadn't seen in a long while. It was the reason she had demanded to go through to their old universe as well, despite the danger. She knew that the moment Rose was reunited with the Doctor that would be it. Her only daughter would go gallivanting off into who knows where and who knows when and Jackie would never see her again. She had wanted the opportunity to say goodbye and to reassure herself that, even if her heart was breaking, her daughter was going to be happy.

"…xi coming to pick you up from the bay." Rose's assistant finished, snapping Jackie out of her musing.

"Good." Jackie replied. "Make sure you have transport ready for us first thing in the morning." She stabbed the little icon on the phone and spared a brief moment to grieve for flip-phones and larger clunky house phones that you could slam shut or down and not have to worry about breaking. Tapping a screen just didn't have the same _oomph_ as a good slamming. There was no stress relief in lightly hurting a finger, no satisfying _thud_ or _snap_ that just sounded so damn good when frustration had its hooks in you. Moment over, she debated wandering over to Rose and the Doctor but decided against it. With a little bit of time to breathe she was starting to realise just how much she missed having a quiet moment. Tony was only two, but he had energy to spare and something always needed handling. Then there was the worry about Rose off chasing aliens and all sorts at Torchwood and Pete taking on so much with being elected head of the Earth Defence Organisation, she barely had time to stop and take a breath. With one last look at the couple, she decided to wander up the beach and towards the road. Waiting for the taxi would be a nice moment of peace, one she intended to enjoy while it lasted.

ooooo

Rose let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes; head nestled on the Doctor's shoulder. The soft salty smell of brine seemed heavenly compared to thick mechanical smoke and with the Doctor by her side and a soft breeze tousling her hair she could barely stay awake as the adrenaline leeched out of her system. Her mind lazily conjured questions that she wanted to ask, but didn't have the energy to voice. She wanted to know what had happened after they had said goodbye three years ago, where he had gone, what he had seen. What it had been like travelling with Martha and Donna and whether the whole TARDIS shortcut would actually work, which started a whole heap of other questions spiralling through her head. The doctor seemed just as lost in thought as she was. As she could feel herself start to drift off, he spoke.

"Dimension cannon, eh?"

Rose let out a giggle that may have had more to do with her exhaustion than her surprise at those being the first words he said to her after the epic snog they had shared.

"Bit nippy out." She replied, grinning to herself. If he was going to start up his equivalent of awkward small talk, she could play back just as hard.

She could almost feel him smile, even if she couldn't see his face from her position. "S'pose the traffic will be a bit busy this time of day." He retorted.

"Hm, allergy season soon."

"Huh." He broke out of their running banter and Rose looked up at him, tilting her head at the small frown creasing his forehead.

"What?" She asked.

"Wonder if I'll get allergies." He said absently.

"You don't know?"

"Well, not really, no." He admitted, one hand coming up to sheepishly rub behind an ear.

"Is everything going to change then?" Rose asked. "Is this gonna be like when you regenerated?"

"Would that be a bad thing?" He asked, an edge creeping in to his voice.

"No, just wondering." Rose yawned and flopped back into the sand, no longer worrying about grit in her hair. "S'like if you _do_ get allergies, would you be able to take human medicine for it, or just hole up in a hamster ball or something?"

That earned her a laugh before the Doctor flopped back in the sand next to her, hand finding hers and twining together. "That'd be something."

"Wouldn't it just." Rose yawned again and her eyes fluttered shut. The last thing she felt before she drifted off to sleep was a pair of warm arms tugging her into a solid chest. She felt happier and freer than she had in months as she let herself relax for the first time since the stars had started going out.


	2. Chapter 2

The entire trip back to London had been a blur. Rose was so exhausted that all she could really do was sleep as they switched from one mode of transport to another. Even a solid night spent passed out in a hotel couldn't make up for the near three-weeks she had spent only able to grab an hour or two of kip at a time. It didn't help that her phone kept ringing with all sorts of dramas back at the office. Her new assistant, Rita, was so green that she was practically sprouting, but Rose knew that given the chance she could end up being a decent agent, she just had to stop second guessing herself.

Putting her phone back in her pocket for the third time in as many hours, Rose stretched and yawned as she stared at her front door. The Doctor was standing next to her, the same bemused expression pasted over his face that he had during the past five minutes of her talking down her panicky assistant who had called in for help with Rose's team. Apparently they had been chasing down a Weevil, things went south, two of her agents had landed themselves in medical and the other had risked a civilian in order to catch the damn thing – none of which was the apparent problem, being that none of the agents had yet to fill out a field report and all reports were due in by six. Rose was far more concerned over the fact that her team was injured and taking unnecessary risks than the fact that they hadn't filled out the copious quantities of bloody paperwork and had been sure to tell Rita that in no uncertain terms.

Sighing, Rose finally dug around in her jacket for her key and let them into the flat she had bought six months ago. The sparse furniture and few unpacked boxes said everything the Doctor could need to know about just how much time she spent in her own home. He didn't comment on it, just strode over to the couch and plopped down, spreading himself out like he owned the place. Rose shot him a smirk and walked over to the kitchen, rustling around for the makings of a couple cups of tea. He obviously hadn't noticed the fine layer of cat fur over the furniture, and she pretended not to be watching him as she waited for her delicate little calico to come and kick him out of "her" spot. _Amelia_ had belonged to an alien they had rehomed after crashing on Earth and begging sanctuary. The alien had taken a liking to animals of all sorts and had the medical knowledge to make it as a veterinarian. Unfortunately it turned out he only had a few months left to live and Amelia had been left all alone. The cat had been left in her team's custody for a few days, but that was all it took for the stubborn feline to adopt Rose. The cat was independent enough not to need "her human" around at all times and Rose had been glad of the affectionate company after a hard case. Rose had arranged for Amelia to be rehomed if she failed to return, but now it looked like there was no need.

Just as the water started to boil over in the kettle, Amelia padded silently around the back of the couch, out of sight of the Doctor before leaping up right next to his face. Rose couldn't help the laugh that came tumbling out of her as the Doctor ended up in a pile on the floor with a yell, head popping back over the couch like a startled meerkat.

"What the hell is that?!" He yelled, "you have a cat? When did you get a cat? _Why_ did you get a cat?"

She only laughed harder as Amelia looked the Doctor over with a sniff and then jumped down onto the cushion, curling herself up where he had just been sitting. The Doctor scowled at the cat for a moment before settling his attention on Rose, his irritation melting away to something else entirely. Her breath caught in her throat and she couldn't look away, the expression in his eyes something she had only ever caught fleeting glimpses of before. The sheer intensity of his dark eyes crashed over her and she swallowed drily as he stalked into the kitchen and herded her back up against the counter. His wiry frame caged her in as he braced his arms on the granite benchtop either side of her, not touching, but oh-so-close. She could feel warmth radiating from his body, his breath on her cheek and she shivered as her insides turned to hot, liquid goo.

"Rose." He breathed.

"Yes?" She squeaked, eyes wide.

"You have a cat." His voice was low and reflected the same intensity as his eyes, she didn't know what to make of it, but the combination of tone and emotion kept shivers of sensation racing through her nerve endings.

"Uh."

"And your own place." He continued. "A job, a team. Your family not fifteen minutes away."

Where was he going with this? Would it be rude to just shut him up with a snog?

"You would have given all of this up, for an insane alien in a time machine?" There was a hint of vulnerability in that, those words and it pulled a soft gasp from her.

"No." She replied honestly, watching the flicker of hurt and marvelling at just how well she could read him, even after years had gone by. Inching closer to him so that only a whisper of space was left between them, she made sure he was looking directly into her eyes. "For you. Only for you."

"I'm just a copy." He whispered.

She shook her head. "Now, if I believed that, d'you think I'da stayed? After everything, you really think you'd have been able to stop me goin' back?"

He swallowed, his own eyes going wide before his lips found hers, arms pulling her to him in a crushing embrace as he unleashed years of longing and repressed emotion into the kiss. Her arms wound around him as she gave as good as she got, telling him without words just how much she had missed him, wanted him and just how much she didn't regret – couldn't regret – accepting the gift his other self had given them. How much she wanted the man in front of her, one heart and all.

She wasn't in denial, it hurt that she had only briefly been reunited with the TARDIS. It had hurt when The Doctor with two hearts had turned to her on that beach and seemingly decided her future for her. It had hurt that he had left her behind, but… She understood, and faster and more fully than she had ever expected to and damn it all to hell if she was going to waste a single more _nanosecond_ overthinking what had happened. The Doctor had left, and The Doctor had stayed, and the one that stayed was with her, in her home, kissing her like they only had seconds left to live and she wasn't going to ruin that.


End file.
